"Despite all the precautions taken from the design of the site (collective and individual protection, reinforced procedures for the separation of spaces, permanent measures), Sete noted on February 3 a recurrence of samples indicating an increase in the levels of lead present on the surface, within the walls of the monument, and ordered, as a precaution, the companies in charge of the work to suspend the painting site, "Sete said at the end of its board of directors.
Currently in the process of "re-studying the operating mode, individual and collective protection mechanisms, maintenance and painting techniques", the operator has not yet set a schedule for resuming work.
La Sete has increased the number of checkpoints - 70 instead of 50 previously - as well as their frequency, now weekly. Following the example of Notre-Dame, she asked that "the results of her samples near the monument be published in open data on the site of the Regional Health Agency (ARS)".
For the 20th painting campaign of the famous Iron Lady, one of the most visited monuments in the world in the pre-Covid era, it was chosen to remove the deteriorated layers of paint from almost 30% of the surface. of the building, where previous campaigns only provided for 5%, in order to "improve the adhesion of the paint to the structure". It is this stripping that brought out the presence of lead present in the previous layers.
Started in 2019 for an end initially scheduled in November 2022, the operation, originally costed at 50 million euros, aims to restore for the 2024 Olympic Games the "yellow-brown" color desired by Gustave Eiffel in 1907 But the suspension of the works will have an impact on their duration and their cost, warns the operator without being able to quantify them yet.
Due to the health crisis, Sete has also announced a deficit of 52 million euros for the year 2020.
Closed during the two confinements, from mid-March to the end of June and then from the end of October, the Eiffel Tower, inaugurated 132 years ago, was only accessible half of the year. The site, which has around 340 employees, uses partial activity.